Analog Solutions: E-discovery Spoliation Sanctions and the Proposed Amendments to FRCP 37(e)

The ever-increasing importance of digital technology in today’s commercial environment has created several serious problems for courts operating under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’s (FRCP) discovery regime. As the volume of discoverable information has grown exponentially, so too have the opportunities for abuse and misinterpretation of the FRCP’s outdated e-discovery rules. Federal courts are divided over the criteria for imposing the most severe discovery sanctions as well as the practical ramifications of the preservation duty as applied to electronically stored information. As a result, litigants routinely feel pressured to overpreserve potentially discoverable data, often at great expense. At a conference at the Duke University School of Law in 2010, experts from all sides of the civil-litigation system concluded that the e-discovery rules were in desperate need of updating. The subsequent four years saw a flurry of rulemaking efforts. In 2014, a package of proposed FRCP amendments included a complete overhaul of Rule 37(e), the provision governing spoliation sanctions for electronically stored information. This Note analyzes the proposed Rule and argues that the amendment will fail to accomplish the Advisory Committee’s goals because it focuses too heavily on preserving the trial court’s discretion in imposing sanctions and focuses too little on incentivizing efficient and cooperative pretrial discovery. The Note concludes by offering revisions and enforcement mechanisms that would allow the new Rule 37(e) to better address the e-discovery issues identified at the Duke Conference

The Ecology, Biology, and Biogeography of the Invasive Red Alga Dasysiphonia japonica (Rhodophyta: Ceramiales) in the Southern Gulf of Maine

Many coastal ecosystems are under threat from the combined pressures of climate change and introduced species. The Gulf of Maine is one such region under siege, being one of the fastest warming bodies of water in the world and being host to a variety of introduced species. In this dissertation, I investigate the invasion potential of the invasive red alga Dasysiphonia japonica in the Gulf of Maine and beyond through a combination of field, laboratory, and modeling studies. Despite being a recent introduction, Dasysiphonia has rapidly spread along the New England coastline. In areas where it has become established, Dasysiphonia often forms dense monocultures, transforming the seascape and reducing local algal diversity. In field studies, settlement plates were deployed for either short-term or long-term periods over the course of two years to examine patterns of short-term seasonal recruitment and longer-term succession. It was found that algal diversity in this system is high, but depends on the regular opening of new bare space to maintain diversity of rarer species. This makes sense in the view of the classic intermediate disturbance hypothesis. On long-term settlement plates, succession showed a gradual decline in species richness over time, moving towards a red turf-dominated state. Dasysiphonia was found year-round on both short and long-term plates, demonstrating that it is active even when other species are seasonally limited. In two laboratory experiments, the ability of Dasysiphonia to produce asexual propagules and the growth rates of those propagules were investigated under summer and winter conditions. It was found that Dasysiphonia can produce a large number of viable propagules, even under winter conditions. Those released fragments were able to grow to mature plants in eight weeks under summer conditions. Growth was slowed under winter conditions, but survival of propagules showed they were capable of overwintering through the New England winter conditions. Species distribution models were constructed to determine the potential suitable habitat currently vulnerable to invasion by Dasysiphonia, as well as how that area may shift under future projected climate conditions. It was found that Dasysiphonia has the potential to continue spreading along this coastline as far north as the Bay of Fundy and as far south as the Chesapeake Bay. Additional vulnerable regions include the temperate coasts of South America, Africa, and Australia. Under projected climate conditions, this suitable area will shift slightly poleward, but the total amount of vulnerable area will not be significantly impacted. In combination, these three studies paint a picture of Dasysiphonia as being a very effective invader in the Gulf of Maine and beyond. Its ability to reproduce asexually year-round through the production of propagules gives it a distinct advantage over native species with seasonally limited recruitment windows, including the native kelp Saccharina latissima. In the Gulf of Maine we should expect to see Dasysiphonia continue to dominate the subtidal ecosystem, as it rapidly takes advantage of newly opened bare space during seasons when other species are inactive. Currently, the Gulf of Maine consists of a complex mosaic of kelp and red algal turf habitats in an unstable equilibrium. With warming waters negatively impacting kelp, we may see a shift in the subtidal ecosystem from a kelp-dominated to a red turf-dominated system

Correlation and Regression

A correlation is a measure of the linear relationship between two variables. It is used when aresearcher wishes to describe the strength and direction of the relationship between twonormally continuous variables. The statistic obtained is Pearson’s product-momentcorrelation (r), and SPSS also provides the statistical significance of r. In addition, if theresearcher needs to explore the relationship between two variables while statisticallycontrolling for a third variable, partial correlation can be used. This is useful when it issuspected that the relationship between two variables may be influenced, or confounded, byA correlation is a measure of the linear relationship between two variables. It is used when aresearcher wishes to describe the strength and direction of the relationship between twonormally continuous variables. The statistic obtained is Pearson’s product-momentcorrelation (r), and SPSS also provides the statistical significance of r. In addition, if theresearcher needs to explore the relationship between two variables while statisticallycontrolling for a third variable, partial correlation can be used. This is useful when it issuspected that the relationship between two variables may be influenced, or confounded, by the impact of a third variable. Correlations are a very useful research tool but they do not address the predictivepower of variables. This task is left to regression. Regression is based on the idea that theresearcher must first have some valid reasons for believing that there is a causal relationshipbetween two or more variables. A well known example is the consumer demand for productsand the level of income of consumers. If income increases then demand for normal goodssuch as cars, foreign travel will increase. In regression analysis, a predictive model needs tofit to both the data and the model. And then we can use the result to predict values of thedependent variable (DV) from one or more independent variables (IVs). In straight forward 2terms, simple regression seeks to predict an outcome from a single predictor; whereas2terms, simple regression seeks to predict an outcome from a single predictor; whereas multiple regression seeks to predict an outcome from several predictors.multiple regression seeks to predict an outcome from several predictors

Achieving Faster Building Energy Model Optimization through Selective Zone Elimination

Optimization in building performance simulation (BPS) has become increasingly important due to the growing need for high-performance building design and operation. Numerous research efforts have been dedicated to decreasing optimization runtime by introducing improved optimization algorithms and advanced sampling techniques. This paper presents a novel model order reduction (MOR) algorithm tailored for speeding up building energy simulation. The algorithm identifies archetype zones simplifying the needless repetition of thermal zones. For an entire optimization process, this MOR method can be repeated recursively to reproduce reduced models. The proposed method can be used to speed up large-scale simulations including optimization, uncertainty analysis and model predictive controls. Preliminary results with parametric simulations show a runtime reduction of about 76% reduction for 15 simulations while still maintaining the predicted total annual energy consumption within a 10% margin. Further research will be conducted to compare the optimization results when applying the proposed MOR algorithm and determine if the reduced model produces the same optimal design. The proposed method may significantly improve the optimization runtime with a minor effect on optimization accuracy, thus increasing the overall usability of BPS optimizations

Design of an FPGA-based high-speed filter-decimator for the GIFTS imaging interferometer

This paper presents the design of an FPGA-based frame filter-decimator for the geostationary imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (GIFTS). The decimator reduces samples from two 128/spl times/128 sample imaging arrays from 1638.4 fps to 102.4 complex fps for the long wave IR (LWIR) band and from 1638.4 fps to 204.8 complex fps for the medium wave IR (MWIR) band. The design uses a novel parallel pipeline architecture to handle the bandpass sampling and decimation of the 16 k array samples which arrive a frame-at-a-time. The design is challenging because of significant speed, size, weight and power restrictions for satellite implementation

Shoreline Evolution: City of Portsmouth, Virginia Hampton Roads and Elizabeth River Shorelines

Shoreline evolution is the change in the shore zone through time. Along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, it is a process and response system. The processes at work include winds, waves, tides and currents which shape and modify coastlines by eroding, transporting and depositing sediments. The shore line is commonly plotted and measured to provide a rate of change, but it is as important to understand the geomorphic patterns of change. Shore analysis provides the basis to know how a particular coast has changed through time and how it might proceed in the future. The purpose of this data report is to document how the shore zone of Portsmouth (Figure 1) has evolved since 1937. Aerial imagery was taken for most of the Bay region beginning that year and can be used to assess the geomorphic nature of shore change. Aerial photos show how the coast has changed, how beaches, dunes, bars, and spits have grown or decayed, how barriers have breached, how inlets have changed course, and how one shore type has displaced another or has not changed at all. Shore change is a natural process but, quite often, the impacts of man through shore hardening or inlet stabilization come to dominate a given shore reach. The change in shore positions along the rivers and larger creeks in the City of Portsmouth will be quantified in this report. The shorelines of very irregular coasts, small creeks around inlets, and other complicated areas, will be shown but not quantified

Shoreline Evolution: Isle of Wight, Virginia James River and Pagan River Shorelines

Shoreline evolution is the change in the shore zone through time. Along Chesapeake Bay’s estuarine shores, it is a process and response system. The processes at work include winds, waves, tides and currents which shape and modify coastlines by eroding, transporting and depositing sediments. The shore line is commonly plotted and measured to provide a rate of change, but it also is important to understand the geomorphic patterns of change. Shore analysis provides the basis to know how a particular coast has changed through time and how it might proceed in the future. The purpose of this data report is to document how the shore zone of Isle of Wight (Figure 1) has evolved since 1937. Aerial imagery was taken for most of the Bay region beginning that year and can be used to assess the geomorphic nature of shore change. Aerial photos show how the coast has changed, how beaches, dunes, bars, and spits have grown or decayed, how barriers have breached, how inlets have changed course, and how one shore type has displaced another or has not changed at all. Shore change is a natural process but, quite often, the impacts of man through shore hardening or inlet stabilization come to dominate a given shore reach. In addition to documenting historical shorelines, the change in shore positions along the rivers and larger creeks in the Isle of Wight County will be quantified in this report. The shorelines of very irregular coasts, small creeks around inlets, and other complicated areas, will be shown but not quantified

Shoreline Evolution: City of Newport News, Virginia James River and Hampton Roads Shorelines

Shoreline evolution is the change in the shore zone through time. Along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, it is a process and response system. The processes at work include winds, waves, tides and currents which shape and modify coastlines by eroding, transporting and depositing sediments. The shore line is commonly plotted and measured to provide a rate of change, but it is as important to understand the geomorphic patterns of change. Shore analysis provides the basis to know how a particular coast has changed through time and how it might proceed in the future. The purpose of this data report is to document how the shore zone of Newport News (Figure 1) has evolved since 1937. Aerial imagery was taken for most of the Bay region beginning that year, and can be used to assess the geomorphic nature of shore change. Aerial imagery shows how the coast has changed, how beaches, dunes, bars, and spits have grown or decayed, how barriers have breached, how inlets have changed course, and how one shore type has displaced another or has not changed at all. Shore change is a natural process but, quite often, the impacts of man through shore hardening or inlet stabilization come to dominate a given shore reach. The change in shore positions along the rivers and larger creeks in the City of Newport News will be quantified in this report. The shorelines of very irregular coasts, small creeks around inlets, and other complicated areas, will be shown but not quantified

Shoreline Evolution: City of Poquoson, Virginia Poquoson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Back River Shorelines

The purpose of this data report is to document how the shore zone of Poquoson has evolved since 1937. Aerial imagery was taken for most of the Bay region beginning that year, and can be used to assess the geomorphic nature of shore change. Aerial imagery shows how the coast has changed, how beaches, dunes, bars, and spits have grown or decayed, how barriers have breached, how inlets have changed course, and how one shore type has displaced another or has not changed at all. Shore change is a natural process but, quite often, the impacts of man through shore hardening or inlet stabilization come to dominate a given shore reach. The change in shore positions along the rivers and larger creeks in the City of Poquoson will be quantified in this report. The shorelines of very irregular coasts, small creeks around inlets, and other complicated areas, will be shown but not quantified